From: M. E. Smith (mesmith@rocketmail.com)
Date: Tue Nov 02 1999 - 11:02:19 MST
Several Internet years ago, it only took being
flamed a little bit for me to realize that the
vocal and rabid atheists on this list would
always dominate the list's atmosphere with
regards to religious thought, and I accepted it
as inevitable, even though I found their
hostility strange, as if they personally had
been stretched on the rack next to Galileo
instead of growing up in societies where
freethinkers have long been celebrated and in
charge. (Anyone who does not admit this fact
must be living in a cave without TV. The very
existence and nature of the Internet is proof
that the societies we live in are largely free.)
So I have remained on the sidelines watching
yet another argument about religion wash
over the list, until now.
Obviously, I am not the only one who is
frusted by those who seem to equate all
religious thought with fundamental
Christianity. Aarrgh! What century do
you think this is?
Look, you guys, I think it's safe to say we all
know that evolutionary theory is correct, that
our planet is millions of years old and was
not created in seven days, and that
Christianity was largely made up by a Roman
government committee hundreds of years
after the life of Jesus, if he ever really existed.
We all know that there is no "God" in the
sense of some huge all-powerful man with a
beard who created us and gets upset when
we have sex for any other reason than
procreation. Among intelligent people, which
probably includes anyone on this list, these
arguments have been won a long time ago. As
Nietzche said; that God is dead.
The "God" that is harder to vanquish is the
ineffable one that the mystics talk about, the
one that is defined as undefinable. This "God"
will never be disproven, for the same reason
that a child can always say "Why?" to
whatever explanation you give him. Like
"infinity", this "God" is a symbol and a useful
meme. To get upset when this symbol is used
is like getting upset when someone says
"infinity". If you're so lacking in a poetic sense
that you cannot appreciate this "God", that's
no reason to verbally abuse those that do.
Would you insult Douglas Hofstadter when
he uses the word "God" in this sense?
I don't find it hard to imagine an advanced SI
with a brain the size of a planet thinking,
analyzing, constructing and testing mental
models, expending the energies of whole stars,
for countless terateraflops, trying to understand
the universe, why it's here, and ultimately giving
up, realizing it'll never know, and at that moment
feeling a great awe.
=====
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M. E. Smith
mesmith@rocketmail.com
http://members.home.net/mesmith/
** *** ***** ******* ***********
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